New Discoveries in Cancer and Heart Disease
MCED in Coronary and Vascular Disease
We have discovered a previously unknown biological mechanism that unravels many long-standing mysteries relating to arterial blockage and heart disease. Now that the mechanism is known, drugs can be developed that target it.
Until now, the underlying mechanisms of atherosclerotic vascular disease were not well understood by scientists. It was not known, for example, precisely how pathogenic lipids trigger an inflammatory response in arterial walls. Neither was it known how atherosclerotic arteries become calcified. And why does serum cholesterol level not reliably predict for coronary artery disease?
In recent scientific journal articles, one author concluded: “The mechanisms of intimal calcification remain poorly understood in humans...,”1 while another stated, “It is still unclear precisely what induces the inflammatory response.”2
We now postulate that massively calcified endosomal death is the triggering event both for vascular inflammation and vascular calcium accumulation. Interruption of the MCED pathway, using MCED-targeted drugs, may offer the most potent and specific approach to the prevention and treatment of coronary vascular disease.
Read the full story on the “Discovery” page of this website.
MCED in Cancer
The highly-promising treatment paradigm of anti-angiogenic therapy has so far achieved only moderate success. Anti-angiogenic research is severely hindered by the inadequacy of disease models and predictive biomarkers. Acquired resistance to anti-angiogenic agents is poorly understood, as is the mechanism through which treatment with bevacizumab increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The goal in treating cancer would be to induce MCED. In that respect, it is precisely the opposite approach of that applied in preventing or treating heart disease, in which the oject is to inhibit MCED. Induction of MCED could be an effective strategy in the development and use of anti-vascular agents.
References
1. Otsuka F, Sakakkura K, Yahagi K, Joner M, Virmani R. Has Our Understanding of Calcification in Human Coronary Atherosclerosis Progressed? Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2014;34:724-736.
2. Rosenfield ME. Calcification and atherosclerosis: direct versus indirect mechanisms. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2013 Apr;13(2):154-60. doi:10.1016/j.coph.2013.01.003. Epub 2013 Jan 26
“Cholesterol levels might not matter.”
“The most important cause of heart attack, stroke, and arterial blockage could the presence or absence of circulating MCED factors.”
“Activation of the MCED pathway may enhance effectiveness of anticancer drugs that work by destroying blood vessels necessary to feed the growth of the cancer.”
